Avon Buses
Avon Buses has now ceased to operate. Avon Buses is the largest independent commercial bus operating company on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Based in Prenton, Merseyside,VOSA - Operator search details for licence the company has an all-single deck fleet of about 38 vehicles as of May 2011, all of them low-floor. History Avon Minis, as the company was originally known, was founded in August 1981 by present proprietor Larry Smith. By 1995 it had six buses and ran mostly school contracts plus one local route. The newest buses were two Leyland Titans. Since then the company has undergone radical changes from operating School contacts to local commercial services. The business has expanded with services starting in Crosby, Fazakerley and their former outstation in Bootle. A name change to Avon Buses was made in late 2004/2005. Avon Buses took over former Arriva North West routes 421 & 422, renumbering them to 22 and 22A. Avon then decided to renumber service 22A to 24 so it would not confuse its passengers with Helms Coaches service 23. They also took over five other groups of routes at the same time. After Helms Coaches service was withdrawn earlier this year Avon Buses decided not to up the frequency of routes 22 and 24 but add an additional Sunday 23 service from Heswall to Chester Bus Exchange, which was eventually withdrawn in April 2011. Operations The company operates mainly commercial local bus services, primarily on the Wirral,Wirral Bus Companies - all bus companies operating on Wirral! including two to Chester. One commercial service is also operated on the opposite side of the Mersey, between Fazakerley and Crosby. A few tendered services are operated in the early mornings, evenings, and Sundays. Much of Avon Buses' expansion in recent years has come from commercialising tendered services. Services Services operated as of February 2018: Fleet The bulk of the fleet consists of Dennis Dart SLF and more recently Alexander Dennis Dart 4 chassis with a mixture of bodywork: East Lancs Spryte, Plaxton Pointer, Plaxton Pointer 2, MCV Evolution and Enviro 200. There is a solitary remaining Plaxton Primo. Recently added to Avons fleet are two Plaxton Presidents registered Y173 NLK and Y174 NLK along with two ex First ALX 400's registered W742 DWX and W757 DWX which both feature leather seating. Former Stagecoach Chester SF04 VTC arrived in early 2017 and was painted in Avon's 2016 livery. Low-floor buses started arriving in the fleet in 1997, the first being a Dennis Dart with an East Lancs Spryte body (R54OCK). The low-floor fleet grew rapidly with more new Dennis Darts being joined by a number of Dennis Lances with Berkhof bodies and a larger number of Marshall minibus integrals. The fleet now is 100% low-floor, the last step-entrance vehicle in the fleet was a Dennis Dart with Plaxton Pointer bodywork which came from Stagecoach (N63KBW). Livery All vehicles are painted in a livery of cream with blue skirt and black around the windows. Early 2016 Avon featured a new livery on four newly acuired Enviro 200's. Gallery , File:Avon Buses Dart MCV Evolution 1.jpg|A MCV Evolution in Birkenhead. File:Avon Buses Dennis Dart 962.JPG|A Plaxton Pointer bodied Dart in Birkenhead. File:Avon Buses Plaxton Primo 456.JPG|A Plaxton Primo in West Kirby. File:Avon Buses Dennis Dart MPD 548.JPG|A Dennis/Plaxton MPD in New Ferry (Shorefileds). File:Avon Buses Volvo B6 10.JPG|A Volvo B6LE in Birkenhead. File:Avon Dart Marshall Capital.jpg|A Dennis Dart SLF in Bebington. File:Avon_Buses_185_M185_UAN.JPG|A Dennis Lance SLF in Birkenhead. See also *List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References External links *Merseyside Dennis Dart Webste - Avon Buses Fleetlist Category:Bus operators in England Category:Transport in Merseyside